Sunday, June 3, 2007

After my numerous failures in the kitchen, I broke down and made a box cake for a dinner party tonight. (Don't worry, everyone knew the Little Man helped me).

It was so incredibly easy!!! After making hundreds of boxed cake mixes before my attempt at "real" baking, going back was like returning home. The familiar shape of the box. The Pillsbury Dough Boy smiling at me with encouragement - he is totally saying, "No matter what the hell you do, you'll get a cake from this box because it is foolproof."

It was comforting to see the ingredient list that includes Cellulose Gum, Polysorbate 60 and Xanthan Gum. And those easy-to-follow instructions...something like, "Put water, oil, eggs in a bowl with the secret contents of this magical box and mix, pour and bake." Due to advancements in chemicals and other stuff I can't pronounce, no matter how much you bake it and mash it, you will get a damn good cake. And that's all I wanted. A damn good cake.

From the moment I ripped open the box, mixed, put the cake into the oven AND washed my three dishes (bowl, whisk and measuring cup), less than 10 minutes had elapsed!

Thanks Mr. Dough Boy. Although you are probably 100 years old and you don't seem to prefer wearing clothing in the kitchen... You Rock!

On another note, I went to see the movie Waitress and it was pretty good. You should see it (either in the theatre or on DVD later).

I also went to Sur la Table and got a digital scale for measuring ingredients. Yes, "real" bakers don't measure flour, they WEIGHT it on a $60 scale. Let me finish my delicious boxed cake first before I think about another project...